That’s the message to the state’s Democrats from one of their rising stars, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, who says he has not endorsed either of the two gubernatorial candidates, but who also says Democats need leaders in whom the voters can believe.

Newsom delivers the dinner speech to convention delegates tonight, but sat down for almost an hour this afternoon with Capitol reporters to talk about everything from Governor Schwarzenegger to current issues and his own future prospects. Some of the highlights…

* Newsom said his fellow Democrats need to get real, both here and nationwide. “We need to say what we say in private publicly, without consideration of consequence,” he said. “We need to redevelop, or rediscover, our spine.”

* The mayor signaled that it would be a mistake for either Phil Angelides or Steve Westly to take the low road this weekend. “I imagine there’s nothing [Schwarzenegger’s team] hopes more than that,” said Newsom, “that this is a contentious weekend, a divisive one, where there’s not just attacks on issues, but personal attacks.”

* And speaking of Schwarzenegger, Mayor Newsom complimented the governor on a personal level– saying he has a “vibrant character”– but pulled no punches when it came to the governor’s record. “He actually got in [office] with a lot of support from Democrats,” he said. “And people actually started to believe, for a while. And he squandered it.”

* Newsom suggested parallels between the current brewing debate over illegal immigration, and the one that thrust him into the spotlight in 2004. “This is our year’s gay marriage, I guess,” he said. The mayor said while he thinks many people support some kind of reforms on illegal immigration policy, he says the debate is much more global than just legal status– and more damaging. “The rhetoric is so much broader than that,” he said, “and the impact of the debate goes deeper.”

* And on the gay marriage issue, San Francisco’s mayor said those who now hope to roll back other programs, like domestic partner rights, will attempt to do so “to their own peril.” “Then it’s no longer about the sanctity of marriage,” he said. “Then it’s about discrimination, of being anti gay and lesbian. Then, finally, their truest colors come to the fore.”

* And finally, Newsom couldn’t escape the big question for Capitol reporters: does he harbor an interest for a governor’s race in four years, or later? The affable mayor says he hasn’t even thought of it.

Fair enough. But when asked can whether what works in San Francisco can work statewide, he eagerly said it can, and began to rattle off a number of things that make California great. He ended that thought by quoting the ancient Greek leader Pericles. “He said, ‘We do not imitate, for we are a model to others’,” said Newsom.

The mayor then sat back in his chair, his eyes wide, and smiled. “I mean, that’s what governors should be saying.”